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There is a lot of good advice in this thread, but also a lot of bad. It's kinda ironic since I spent a good amount of years and $$$ following bad advice like the ones in here.
For those of you saying you're wanting to make an investment in some sound gear, I would suggest going with some Grados (SR80i), Audio Technicas (AD700 or A700), or Sennheisers (HD555 or HD595). Anyone who isn't really an Audiophile would notice the superior quality of these headphones compared to a lot of the junk out there. Spending $100 on any of these companies would be a way better alternative than spending way more on any other cliche novelty headphones. You shouldn't really need an amp for any headphones in this price range, but it is a good addition, and can be used if you decide to REALLY get into audiophile headphones later down the road (for use with your upgraded headphones). You can even create what's called a CMOY amp if you don't want to spend a lot of money. It won't be as good (depending on which one you make, the better, the more expensive, obviously) as a commercially produced amp, but it'll suffice for a novice. They can cost around $25 on eBay for a kit which you'll need to purchase 2x 9volt batteries and a case (typically, an altoid box). The only thing you'll have to do is solder/assemble the parts together and you have a working amp.
So in summary, you can really spend around $150 on a nice set of headphones/amp that will be a worthy investment. Some of you are willing to spend twice that much, which is nice, and you can if you want too. But from what I've seen, the majority (far too many to directly address each one) asking for advice are looking at some ridiculously overpriced, inferior gear. It's funny how people are willing to spend $300 on some gear that can be trumped by something 1/3rd that price. Imagine what $300 would do, if spent on something legitimate (i.e. Sennheiser HD600). Anyways, I hope I saved some people some time and $$$. I wish someone would've done the same for me long ago. I they had, I could probably already own a pair of Sennheiser HD800's and a really nice amp from all the money I spent on crap products during that time. Oh well, you live and learn.
If anyone wants to ask any specific questions, you can PM me.
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MrHoon
10183 Posts
hey guys I'm back
I was wondering if you guys can reccomend me a good bluetooth (mono) headphones?
I'm willing to spend around $80 ~ $120, I bought a 20 dollar one from radio shack and I can't go 2 feet without it getting staticy.
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On December 30 2010 07:59 MrHoon wrote:
hey guys I'm back
I was wondering if you guys can reccomend me a good bluetooth (mono) headphones?
I'm willing to spend around $80 ~ $120, I bought a 20 dollar one from radio shack and I can't go 2 feet without it getting staticy.
What's your definition of "good."
Especially since you're talking about mono, I don't think you are talking about music quality. If you are, why would you want mono? Kind of defeats the purpose of listening to music...
If you are defining "good" based on range, then that's gonna be a tough one to answer since I hardly think there are very many people out there who have tested enough bluetooth headphones to give you a definitive answer.
But if you are defining good on music quality, I would suggest just using wired headphones unless you absolutely can't, and taking my advice above about the headphones in the $100 price range. There is a big difference in even cans (bigger, typically cupped headphones) vs iems (in ears). Adding wireless adds a whole new twist. To get the most superior sound quality, you should get cans if possible.
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Sennheiser RS 180's cost about £200 a year or so ago they're quite good sound wise... but comfort is off the fucking scales.
Prior to these I had the £60 Medusa 7.1 HD they were immensely better quality than my sennheisers, but trust me, once you go wireless you will never go back.
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On December 30 2010 08:09 arthur wrote:
Sennheiser RS 180's cost about £200 a year or so ago they're quite good sound wise... but comfort is off the fucking scales.
Prior to these I had the £60 Medusa 7.1 HD they were immensely better quality than my sennheisers, but trust me, once you go wireless you will never go back.
What do you mean by wireless? What gear specifically? For what function? Listening to music or something else?
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MrHoon
10183 Posts
ahh seems like I didnt specify what I wanted to do
Im going to use it specifically for phone purposes mainly
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I got some sennheiser hd280s for xmas... coming from using a $15 headset they sound amazing. my favorite thing is that they block out sound and thus everything but what i'm focusing on (starcraft, programming, drumming)
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On December 29 2010 15:51 ZeromuS wrote:Show nested quote +On December 29 2010 14:37 konadora wrote:On December 29 2010 14:33 ValSic wrote:On December 29 2010 14:07 konadora wrote:
hey guys, been looking at beats by dr dre for a while, not sure if i want to get tours or heartbeats. looking for looks + audio quality because i'm using some cheapass $10 in-ear lol. looking only for in-ear so.. :p
not sure which is worth more for the bucks, anyone has any info about those two? How much is your budget? What's your sound signature? Do you prefer a (flat)balanced or a V (there's a treble/bass boost along the frequency spectrum) shaped sound? Balanced - Gives you more detail and clarity and shines in the mid-range (Acoustic,Instrumentals,Classical) V shaped , the "fun" sound - The sound is colored making electronic music much more enjoyable. As i've said above,it excels in music that requires good bass response but also a slightly emphasized treble (Rap,Electronica,Hip-Hop) budget's around $200~$250 in SGD (singapore dollars) so around $150 USD? give or take 30USD. i'd prefer V :p To be fair a nice balanced pair of headphones can be EQed to present a V sound and still offer a nice balanced sound. Thats why I got my headphones which are fairly well balanced and run EQ when I listen to techno for example. (I have Shure SRH840s as a reference)
That's true but we're talking about IEM's here.
IEMs with dynamic drivers tend to naturally excel in those genres while balanced armatures don't. When you EQ a balanced armature you actually change its whole sound artificially via the EQ that's why you won't really have that natural fun sound that the dynamic drivers have. Imagine EQuing the RE0's to bass boost or w/e, it wouldn't make it better as it was made soley to produce detail and clarity and not thumpy bass.
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Im thinking about getting the Grado SR80i but im unsure about how much sound they leak. Pretty much I´ve heard but...can I use them with my mp3 om the bus/train without disturbing? Or are they more for home use? Also, If anyone has theese headphones plz give me your opinion about them. I would use them for regulare music listening, with computor/laptop and with mp3-player.
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On December 30 2010 08:54 odeSSa wrote:
Im thinking about getting the Grado SR80i but im unsure about how much sound they leak. Pretty much I´ve heard but...can I use them with my mp3 om the bus/train without disturbing? Or are they more for home use? Also, If anyone has theese headphones plz give me your opinion about them. I would use them for regulare music listening, with computor/laptop and with mp3-player.
Personally I wouldn't use my SR60i's on a bus or train unless the bus/train is not very populated. No isolation doesn't only mean sound leakage, it also means sound will come in, so to listen to your music in some place crowded you will probably have to turn it up to a point where people will easily be able to hear your music.
The headphones themselves are really good for music listening, especially rock/electronic, some people complain about the shrillness of the highs, I never heard any shrillness, however the sound was a little muffled at first, but the headphones burned in nicely after a day or two and each sound in any song can be heard clearly and distinctly.
The headphones can also be used without amp, as they are entry level (by audiophile standards), so listening with an iPod won't be a problem, except in the situations mentioned above.
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I would call pretty much every open headphone "more for home use." In any case, they're definitely not for bus/train use. At that price range, you may find that IEMs suit your purposes better. IEMs are also options at other price ranges, but there don't seem to be many great closed headphones with good isolation, particularly around the SR60i's price. Maybe I'm forgetting a pair or two though.
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As stated above, any good cans wont be good for bus, train, general public areas as they will leak and bring in external noise. The often hyped idea of noise cancellation in lower price points is implemented in such a way that works against good sound quality as you need air flow to move and create sound. If you look at the Sennheisers, you will see basically a passthrough on the other sides of the earmuffs as it moves the air outside and into your war. If I play my Sennheiser HD595 all the way up, they almost sound like regular speakers. That's how loud they are.
So in any event, you are looking for an in ear piece. You can look at the Sennheiser cx300, shure se210, klipsch image s4, or other equivalents in that price range from those companies. While the drivers in those aren't as good as cans, they'll be a lot better than your typical JVC gimmies and the like.
Edit: sorry for all the typos. Sending this on my droid.
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On December 29 2010 14:16 YoungModerN wrote:
Thx
im reading a review of Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and im really liking it. I got a Sony MiniSystem which i connect my desktop on it. Will this device run good with the Audio-Technica ATH-M50? Or doesnt need a amp?
I got my M50s a couple months ago and I love them. They have good bass but if you want something with a wider sound stage you will probably want to look for something else.
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On December 30 2010 11:37 ThumperSD wrote:Show nested quote +On December 29 2010 14:16 YoungModerN wrote:
Thx
im reading a review of Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and im really liking it. I got a Sony MiniSystem which i connect my desktop on it. Will this device run good with the Audio-Technica ATH-M50? Or doesnt need a amp? I got my M50s a couple months ago and I love them. They have good bass but if you want something with a wider sound stage you will probably want to look for something else.
If you are gonna be running them on a system that already has an amp pre-built, you don't really need an amp. Imo, anything in that price range generally doesn't anyways. Most people use the amps because playing from inferior music players (without amps) necessitates it.
But you also have to keep in mind that there are also many other ways to increase your music listening experience, such as upping the sound files you are listening too. If you have a $1000 system, and listening to 96kbps, it's still going to sound like crap. Loud crap, but still crap. If you have $30 earbuds, and listening to FLAC vs low bit rate mp3's, you'll still notice a difference. Since it's not entirely convenient to have (they are bigger files to store) or be able to find (generally, ripping a CD is set to medium sound files by default) such high quality sound files all the time and buying such expensive equipment isn't always feasible, you can still enjoy good music by going somewhere in the middle.
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Alright, so I said I would come back with my impressions of my newly purchased ASUS Xonar DG Soundcard.
The card can be found here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020
For 20 bucks, I thought why not upgrade from onboard sound? I am currently using Audio Technica AD700's which, as many posters have pointed out, don't usually receive a whole lot of benefit from a cheap soundcard upgrade. I can agree with this sentiment, however I definitely can hear a clear distinction in quality from my onboard. Whether or not it's 20 dollars better is all a matter of opinion, but I am happy with my purchase, seeing it as an investment rather than an impulse purchase.
I've had HD280 Pro's for about 5 years now, using them with my regular onboard soundcard. These benefited a whole lot more than my AD700's when it came to a difference in sound. They were more powerful, clear, and created a better listening experience.
If you are looking at soundcards, I think this is about as good as it gets for the entry level market. A nice pair of HD555's or HD280's with this creates a great introductory combo to the audio world. After some more break-in, I'll post more thoughts, this was just my limited impression.
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Canada13410 Posts
On December 30 2010 08:40 ValSic wrote:Show nested quote +On December 29 2010 15:51 ZeromuS wrote:On December 29 2010 14:37 konadora wrote:On December 29 2010 14:33 ValSic wrote:On December 29 2010 14:07 konadora wrote:
hey guys, been looking at beats by dr dre for a while, not sure if i want to get tours or heartbeats. looking for looks + audio quality because i'm using some cheapass $10 in-ear lol. looking only for in-ear so.. :p
not sure which is worth more for the bucks, anyone has any info about those two? How much is your budget? What's your sound signature? Do you prefer a (flat)balanced or a V (there's a treble/bass boost along the frequency spectrum) shaped sound? Balanced - Gives you more detail and clarity and shines in the mid-range (Acoustic,Instrumentals,Classical) V shaped , the "fun" sound - The sound is colored making electronic music much more enjoyable. As i've said above,it excels in music that requires good bass response but also a slightly emphasized treble (Rap,Electronica,Hip-Hop) budget's around $200~$250 in SGD (singapore dollars) so around $150 USD? give or take 30USD. i'd prefer V :p To be fair a nice balanced pair of headphones can be EQed to present a V sound and still offer a nice balanced sound. Thats why I got my headphones which are fairly well balanced and run EQ when I listen to techno for example. (I have Shure SRH840s as a reference) That's true but we're talking about IEM's here. IEMs with dynamic drivers tend to naturally excel in those genres while balanced armatures don't. When you EQ a balanced armature you actually change its whole sound artificially via the EQ that's why you won't really have that natural fun sound that the dynamic drivers have. Imagine EQuing the RE0's to bass boost or w/e, it wouldn't make it better as it was made soley to produce detail and clarity and not thumpy bass.
This is true forgot we were talking about IEMs  Full size well balanced cans do EQ very differently from IEMs I apologise.
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This m50's get sexier every hour i listen to them. Bass is really improving after 10-20 hours compared to out of the box.
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@Stoids: out of curiosity, what onboard audio chip did you have? e.g. Realtek ALC882.
If you're interested and have the time (and a few cheap connectors and cables), you can run some RMAA (free) audio benchmarks on the onboard audio and compare that with the Xonar DG. Granted, I'd expect unloaded results to be bottlenecked by the DG's ADC, but loaded results are more interesting and those are almost never published online.
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My headphones I posted earlier in this thread have now broken 3 times and I'm not getting them repaired again, and it's only been 1.5 yrs of use. To be fair, though, I'm a bit of a harsh headphone user and the plug does get violently pulled out sometimes, but still I want my $120 headphones to last a bit longer.
Anyone have recommendation for ~$100 headphones that have
1) AMAZING seal (ie no sound gets in or out, I can blast music LOUD but it doesn't sound loud to someone standing next to me
2) Good sound, that's actually secondary to the seal.
Recommendations?
edit: previous headphoens were Denon 1001K ... broke so fucking easily.
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EPT
